


It's Ridiculous

by tigereyes45



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drinking, Drunk!Wash, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, carwash siblings, red vs blue secret santa 2019 tumblr event, redvsbluesecretsanta 2019 tumblr event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21983569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: Ghosts don’t exist. So the thought of an AI, assuming he’s a ghost that could interact with the physical realm was sort of hilarious. A mind that was so incapable of accepting any other possibility that it’s almost impossible to connect it back to her father. Then Carolina remembers how impossible it was for him to accept her mother’s death.
Relationships: Agent Carolina & Agent Washington (Red vs. Blue), Agent Carolina/Agent York (Red vs. Blue)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	It's Ridiculous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [julietofmayfair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/julietofmayfair/gifts).



> This was made as a gift for vonlipvig on tumblr for the secret santa event held by the redvsbluesecretsanta blog.
> 
> They asked for Epsilon angst and possibly Yorkalina with Lina remembering York. So I combined the too with just some general angsty feels from Carolina about anything.

Ghosts don’t exist. So the thought of an AI, assuming he’s a ghost that could interact with the physical realm was sort of hilarious. A mind that was so incapable of accepting any other possibility that it’s almost impossible to connect it back to her father. Then Carolina remembers how impossible it was for him to accept her mother’s death. All the sudden Church’s sudden disappearing when even slightly inconvenienced makes perfect sense.

Carolina watches the old Blood Gulch Canyon clips with a bitter sense of melancholy and a twisted kind of joy. Epsilon wasn’t like her father, but he had never been so dimwitted either. It’s strange seeing the memory possess more common sense than the Alpha. She wonders if it was because he was so broken that it was a struggle to hold on to as much as he could.

“York? What about Lina?” She could feel her eyes grow as her heart beats faster. She wasn’t even aware that Alpha had remembered her. It was strange hearing her the twisted voice of her father genuinely ask after her health. The fact that it was his first instinct after hearing York’s name struck a different kind of chord.

“She was already dead.”

Alpha doesn’t even bother to ask, how or why. He doesn’t question the death of just another freelancer. It doesn’t even register in his program that it’s something to collect his interest. Not the way it leaves her with so many questions. She continues watching, now having a closer timeline of when York was killed. Learning who was with him in his last moments. Once upon a time, she would have assumed it was Tex who had killed him. The ghost of her mother who had taken everything away. Her father’s attention, the reason for all the work, why she joined the military, the reason why she left it.

The one who got York killed.

Tex doesn’t bother to explain any further either. Neither care for the freelancer they barely knew they were so connected to. Texas probably still hated her, as much as Carolina now just feels apathy and regret. That thing had never been her mother, but it was her last connection to her parents. As much as she hates to admit it.

She pauses the video and takes off her helmet. Somehow the air had only gotten colder in the valley, despite the days steadily getting warmer. Looking up the stars look so scattered from here. Back on Earth, they were so close together. Little clusters of galaxies miles away that humans had only ever hoped to reach one day. It was so easy to forget that they were living during those “one day”s now. Able to go anywhere in the matter of hours, days, and months. Travel anywhere, and she was spending her days here. On a planet nowhere, with a bunch of idiots that somehow managed to get her further than her team ever had. They had actually managed to help her relax. Carolina leans back on the roof of their bases. Kimball had spared no expense to give them a great place to settle down.

York had wanted to settle down with her once upon a time. He was a smooth talker from the first moment they met. She wonders if he had ever lost that annoyingly sweet side of his personality before the end. Who was the last person to hear him talk? Was it Tex? Did she ever mention it? So far the videos show nothing, but it’s possible that at some point someone was told off-camera. She could ask, but it probably wouldn’t matter.

“Hey there.”

Carolina tenses and grabs her helmet close. She was ready to throw it until she saw the half apologetic smile on Wash’s familiar face. He holds his empty hands up. “Sorry I should know better than to sneak up on you.”

“You should.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah just thinking.”

“I uh, sorry, but I was looking for you and I heard the video playing.”

Carolina laughs and slowly sets her helmet back down. “That’s my fault for playing it out loud. I should have kept it to the helmet. I just wanted to hear their voices out loud. I know how weird that sounds, but -”

“No, it’s okay. You uh, you had more of a history with them then I did.”

“Epsilon was in your head first.”

“Yeah well the Alpha was kind of like, well a copy of your dad wasn’t he?”

“Yes.” She leans back on her arms and kicks her legs lazily over the side of the roof.

“You weren’t really thinking about them were you?”

“I was for a little bit.”

“Oh.”

A one-sided awkward silence settles down as Wash practically falls on his ass next to her. For the first time, she realizes he had been drinking. From the looks of him, it had been more than enough to get him drunk. He looked like he was ready to pass out at any moment now.

“So your mom. Was she as much of a bitch as Texas was?”

“Wow Wash. Your poker game with the reds and blues must’ve gone well, because you have even less tact than usual.”

“Sorry.” He leans over the edge of the roof. His body slacks and for the first time in what felt like decades Wash smiles. This reaction to being reprimand was new. So many times Wash would immediately cave when being lectured. Other moments, her favorites, he would snark back with a sly smile before getting it smacked off his face. He had a few good jokes back then. His humor had only gotten better with the years, and changes.

“Don’t be. From what I remember she could be, though not as bad.”

“What about York?”

“What about him?”

“Was he always a dick?”

Carolina grabs Wash’s shoulder as he leans further over the roof. He slowly pulls his helmet off. As soon as his mouth was uncovered the coughing starts. Carolina’s back straightens up as she moves to hold Wash with both arms. As soon as he was steady the vomiting started. It was a mess of brown, green, and noodles. As his hacking slows, she glances over to see it had painted the side of the building. None of it made it to the ground.

As she looks back to Wash the slimy dribble slowly begins to cover her armor. At least it wasn’t much. A quick clean up and some wax there shouldn’t be any sign or smell of the best. The smell of beer and Tucker’s mystery stew was a sure-fire way to ruin any clear night. Carolina pulls Wash up along with her. Somehow he was still mostly able to stand, even if walking was a far more difficult endeavor.

“Sorry Lina.”

“Don’t be Wash. I needed something to pull me from my thoughts.”

“Epsilon was also always sad. Whenever he got started he couldn’t be stopped. He, he had nightmares.”

“It’s okay Wash. We don’t have to talk about it.”

They walk in mostly quiet as she guides him back to his room. The white halls were eerily quiet despite the fact the others were partying just next door. Any quiet now was enough to bring back memories. After Chorus it was easier to not think about her old team and her parents. Easier didn’t mean impossible though. The bright lights were harrowing for her they must’ve been agonizing for Wash right now, but the panel for the hall lights is all the way on the first floor. So re-acquainting himself with suffering will just be his lot in life for the next few minutes.

Wash groans as Carolina finally manages to drag him into his dark room. She drops him onto the bed and tears his helmet off. His head goes flying back as a broken whine escapes him. He sounded like a lost puppy that was kicked into a ditched. It almost hurts her to hear it. She wonders if she should take his armor off, but realizes that if he has any other kinds of problems it would be better to leave it on. She pulls the shades on the window open. One more lesson wouldn’t hurt him too much. After all, she did keep him from throwing himself off the top of the roof with his dinner.

“Lina,”

His voice was so soft it barely stopped her at the door. She turns around on her feet to see the soldier laying half off the bed. His leg and arm clung to the sheets to keep him up like a sloth on a spindly branch.

“Yeah Wash?”

“I’m sorry about York. About Leonard too.”

“Don’t be Wash.” She flips him back over onto the bed. With a few poor attempts to untangle the sheets, Carolina gives up and leaves them twisted around his arms and legs. Somehow a knot formed in the sheets along his stomach. “I was the one that got them killed.” She had been the person to hand her father the literal gun.

His armored hand rubs up and down her arm. It barely moves, but there’s an air of familiarity around it that she hadn’t felt in years. If neither of them had the armor on it probably would be soft. When was the last time she felt another person’s skin on hers? Or something just as simple as a hug?

“It wasn’t your fault Lina. Not really.”

“If you say so Wash. Now how about you go to sleep?”

“Yeah. Sleep sounds nice. Donut showed a home video he and Doc made. It was supposed, supp-ta, to be about his farm back on Earth. It was oddly se-”

“I’m sure it was Wash. The video is over now. It’s time to rest.”

“Fiiiine.”

“Good.” Carolina stretches before hanging in the doorway. It was weird being this friendly with people again. Let alone with Washington. She never even expected to know his name let alone care about his health. Yet here they were. Stuck in a galaxy far far away, as the last members of a special unit no one will even remember once they’re dead. She looks out the window to see the stars glittering off the lake. The bright white lights were all that made the planet outside visible right now, and they were dim from the reflection of the hall lights.

The project was destroyed and finally, Washington could relax. She could settle down just like she should have done with York all those years ago


End file.
